Herbert Flack Movies

Based on a notorious real-life Belgian scandal involving corruption at the highest levels of industry and government, this film concerns fictional muckraking journalist Johannes van Buren (Herbert Flack), who is kidnapped by Billy (Peter van den Begin), the son of one of the accused. Billy interrogates the reporter about his ethics and his own deep dark personal secrets. Director Willem Wallyn had more that a passing interest in the so-called Augusta-Dassault imbroglio; his father was centrally involved in the affair. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The title of this slapstick comedy, Koko Flanel, is apparently a takeoff on the famous name of deceased fashion designer Coco Chanel. In the story an odd-looking, dimwitted lad (popular comedian Urbanus) whose previous job experience involves selling bird houses, lands a fifteen-year contract as a model with a top advertising agency. Impeturbable and probably incapable of understanding what's going on anyway, the lad wants to marry the production assistant at the agency who signed him to the contract, so that he can fulfill a deathbed promise to his father to have some children, and behave at least as well as his older brother, a policeman. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

This mystery is based on the real-life murder of a hooker who was strangled to death in the red-light district of The Hague in 1959. The 32-year-old victim seems to have had three different personalities. Dolly was the cheap whore who would turn dozens of tricks a day for a dollar a pop. Sylvia was the elegant and wealthy woman who enjoyed attending fancy parties and concerts. Kitty was the divorcee who provided companionship for wealthy businessmen. Hilde van Mieghem plays all three women of mystery. When the police find her body, they discover she was the wealthy owner of eight houses who had made shrewd investments and whose obvious wealth was not consistent with her occupation as a woman of ill repute. The murderer, much like the life of the victim, remains an unsolved mystery. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Hector (Urbanus) is a 35-year-old mentally challenged adult who has spent most of his life in an orphanage. His opportunistic uncle Achiel (Frank Aendenboom) retrieves Hector in order to put him to work. Achiel hopes the move will free his own son from his chores and give him time to train for an upcoming bicycle competition. Hector's Aunt Ella (Sylvia Millecam) has dreams of becoming a Hollywood actress. After the uncle dies, Aunt Ella falls for Hector in this familiar comedy theme -- a child caught in the body of a man. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Welcome to The Beverly Hillbillies, Dutch style. Nelly Frijda, Rene Van't Kof, Tatjana Sinic and Huub Stapel star as the low-rent, low-class Flodder family. Through a miracle of scripting, the Flodders move to a prosperous neighborhood. The resulting comedy highlights are all predicated on the old culture-clash gimmick. Flodder was popular enough to inspire two movie sequels (one of them tantalizingly titled Flodders in America), as well as a Dutch TV series, which ran from 1993 to 1995. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this humanistic story about a few policemen trying to do an honest job, personalities and real-life politics forge obstacles that may be impossible to surmount. Zaman (Marc Janssen) has worked on the force for 30 years. His dedication ruined his first marriage, and although his son seems to understand his father's problems and accomplishments, his second wife is rather aloof. Now Zaman has a new, young partner, Frank (Herbert Flack), who at first disagrees with him on just about everything, but eventually the two men become good friends. Trouble arises when Zaman is on the trail of some big underworld figures and starts getting too close to city hall -- he is suspended for his efforts. This crushing blow is about to turn him off when his wife reveals how much she has admired his honesty and she helps him to find renewed courage to continue. Although both his partner and his wife have turned him in the direction he is following, their view of things may ultimately get Zaman into more trouble than he can handle. Rather than portray the characters of Zaman and Frank as hard-nosed, invulnerable cops, director Patrick Le Bon has chosen instead to emphasize their more ordinary, human traits. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Hugo Claus rewrote and directed Friday as the cinematic version of his original 1969 play of the same name. Just as in the play, the story begins with the theme of incest, as the father Georges (Frank Aendenboom) returns from serving his jail sentence for that crime. Unlike the earlier play, however, the film does not emphasize that aspect of the story. When Georges gets home he finds out that his wife Jeanne (Kitty Courbois) has had an illegitimate child by a younger man, Erik (Herbert Flack), and now both of them must somehow try to return to a normal life, given their only too obvious lapses in moral judgment. As the husband and wife try hard to accommodate each other's failings and start to get to know each other again, Erik comes back into the picture. Now the three of them must resolve the deep-seated conflicts that brought them to this emotionally-wrought juncture of love and betrayal. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

After Pallieter's mistress commits suicide, he wakes up and looks around him. What he discovers is that his beloved countryside is being chewed up by developers and machines. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide